1. technology and computing
2. hardware
3. computer components
4. disks

Digital Darwinism
A Brief Survival Guide to Personal Information Management
By Jonathan Harford, “Floppy Disks In The Street”, http.//www/flickr/com/photos/jonathanharford/514919834/
What is Personal Information Management (PIM)?
Preserve your files with 3-2-1
Individuals are unique and so are their information needs and
preferences/ As a response, PIM is a developing area of interest
among archivists and information professionals as advocates for the
preservation and retrieval of information created, collected and
managed by individuals/ Since different kinds of information are
created, acquired and managed differently, analysis is devoted to each
of three broad categories. Works & Assets, Resources and
Communication/ Tips and tools for organizing, managing and
preserving information across distributed digital environments are
offered/
By avaragado from Cambridge (Forty years of removable storage) [CC-BY-2/0 (http.//
creativecommons/org/licenses/by/2/0)\, via Wikimedia Commons
For minimal risk of data loss:
3 copies (1 primary + 2 backups) across
2 formats (hard drive + mobile drives) with
1 format stored offsite, or cloud storage
Backup Overview from the American Society of Media Photographers
By Adobe Systems, “Computer Icon of Adobe Reader X (V/10)”, from http.//creativecommons/org
By Jim, “Keyboard” from unprofound/com
Communication
Works & !ssets
Resources
SCOPE: Information created or acquired by individuals within
SCOPE: External sources of information used for personal
SCOPE:
the course of their professional , academic and private activities/ This includes self-created information such as notes,
drafts, pre-prints, final drafts, software session files, raw and
processed data, digital photos, audio and video recordingsand acquired documents such as receipts, legal documents,
and certificates/
and professional activities, research and development/ Resources help define one’s own informational sphere/ Digital
resources may include PDF articles, reports, data, guidelines,
database links, eBooks, websites/
tween personal computers and on the Internet in social Web
applications/ E-mail, Facebook and Twitter entries are some
examples/
SPECIAL CONSIDERATIONS: Documents and assets gener-
sets, resources are often consulted over an extended period
of time, requiring management to ensure quick retrieval/ Digital resources are highly distributed across the Internet as well
as stored on personal computers and storage media/ Because
of this, multiple strategies should be considered to manage
and preserve access to diverse resources/
ally have an active period for which they are retrieved frequently as works in progress, followed by a static period for
which they are stored (archived) as part of the legacy of one’s
work and life/ Works and assets are often distributed across
multiple storage media and are subject to loss due to hardware failure, human error or technological obsolescence/
MANAGEMENT STRATEGY: Consider your work habits/ Do
you work from multiple locations/computers? Are your documents created across multiple technologies such as smart
phones, cameras or audio/video equipment? Is your work to
be shared? If you answered yes to any of these questions, saving your work to a cloud storage server (see Tools below) will
offer you the flexibility you require/
PRESERVATION STRATEGIES: 1) Documents you create
have dynamic lifecycles/ Incremental back-ups protect working drafts/ Use the 3-2-1 regimen for completed works/ 2) Personal cloud services are especially useful for backing up works
and assets/ Use a service that features manual or auto synchronization of updated documents on your device or computer/ 3) Social Websites such as Flickr, YouTube, Vimeo and
SoundCloud allow you to store and control shared access for
finished photos, videos and audio files/ 4) Academic Faculty
should consider their Institutional Repository to archive and
disseminate preprints, postprints, reports, digital learning objects and data sets/ 5) Refresh mobile storage media with external disc drives/ Duplicate drives for maximum protection/
Tools:
Cloud Storage/Back-up
Incremental Back-up

Dropbox

Box

Amazon Cloud

Carbonite

Google Drive

iCloud (Apple)

Windows SkyDrive

Backup and Restore (Win 7)

Time Machine (Mac OSX)

Norton 360 (Win)
Format Preservation Guides from the Library of Congress
Electronic communication is often distributed be-
SPECIAL CONSIDERATIONS: While most electronic comSPECIAL CONSIDERATIONS: Unlike personal works and as-
MANAGEMENT STRATEGIES:
1) Self-imposed folder
schemes exhibit personal preferences/ Consider these when
implementing such schemes as alphabetical, chronological,
subject classification or combination thereof/ 2) Tag your resources (see Tips) with descriptive terms to improve your
workflow/ 3) To access your saved resources across multiple
devices, consider storing them on personal cloud accounts
(see Tools for “Works & Assets”)/ 4) Manage, tag and share
your Web links and citations online to access them anywhere/
munication is managed through an e-mail client, Web posts to
social sites are generally unmanaged, difjcult to retrieve, and
less likely to be archived/ Retrieving data from distributed applications may be challenging, however tools to assist you in
this process can help (see Tips & Tools)/
MANAGEMENT STRATEGIES:
1) Implement a personal
folder structure within your email application to organize important messages/ This will also assist you in prioritizing which
messages to archive/ 2) Investigate utilities to retrieve your social Web Entries (see below)/
PRESERVATION STRATEGIES: Email - Utilize archiving features within your e-mail client/ Make sure to archive emails in
personal folders/ Save email data archive files as part of periodic 3-2-1 backups/ Social Web data - 1) Review data management features and policies in Web apps you use/ 2) Investigate
utilities to archive your social web entries, histories and data/
PRESERVATION STRATEGY: Since digital resources are acquired over time, use incremental back-ups or synced cloud
services in conjunction with periodic 3-2-1 backups/
Tips & Tools:

LiveBinders Web

File Tagging for Windows OS7

EndNote Web Citations

File Tagging for Mac OSX

Zotero Citations

Elyse Tag Utility (Win/Mac)

Mendeley Citations/PDF

Delicious Bookmarking

ReadCube PDF/Annotator
WHAT DO I ARCHIVE AND WHEN?
Since digital storage is cheap, it’s tempting to archive
everything/ However, too many files can make locating them a
challenge/ Best to consider your value system to determine
which files you want to preserve for the long-term/ Think of
preservation as a maintenance activity, (like changing the oil in
your car)/ Regularly schedule this activity during low production
cycles, such as intersessions, or breaks in heavy activity/
Tips & Tools:

Archive Outlook Email (Windows tutorial)

Archive Entourage Email (Mac video tutorial)

Data Liberation Front (Google Apps data)

Backupify (Social Web Data)

cloudpreservation (Social Web Data Subscription)
Email/Web Preservation Guides from the Library of Congress
Steve Kutay—Digital Services Librarian
California State University Northridge
Delmar T/ Oviatt Library
stephen/kutay@csun/edu
Faculty Page